Triadic closure

Triadic closure is a concept in social network theory, first suggested by German sociologist Georg Simmel in the early 1900s. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/style/17facebook.html?pagewanted=print Georg Simmel] , originator of the concept: "Facebook" article at the New York Times website. Retrieved on December 21 2007.] Supposing that person A has a strong connection to person B and to person C, but there is no connection whatsoever between B and C; when this changes, and B and C become either weakly or strongly linked, there is triadic closure. [ [http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/complexity/course/emergence06/bookreviews/kmaffei.html Working concept] of triadic closure: book review of Duncan Watts' "" at the "Serendip" (Bryn Mawr College) website. Retrieved on December 21 2007.]

Triadic closure was made popular by Mark Granovetter in his 1973 article The Strength of Weak Ties. [Granovetter, M. (1973). " [http://www.stanford.edu/dept/soc/people/mgranovetter/documents/granstrengthweakties.pdf The Strength of Weak Ties] ", American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 78, Issue 6, May 1360-80.] There he synthesized the theory of cognitive balance first introduced by Heider in 1946 with a Simmelian understanding of social networks. In general terms, cognitive balance refers to the propensity of two individuals to want to feel the same way about an object. If the triad of three individuals is not closed, then the person connected to both of the individuals will want to close this triad in order to achieve closure in the relationship network.

References